Former Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner Dead at 86

Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner sings along with vocalist Paige Cutrona and attending guests to the singing of "Our Delaware" in front of Legislative Hall in Dover, Del., Jan. 18, 2005. Suchat Pederson, File/AP Photo

DOVER, Del.—Ruth Ann Minner, a sharecropper’s daughter who became the only woman to serve as Delaware’s governor, has died. She was 86.

Minner, who served as governor from 2001 to 2009, passed away Thursday morning, according to Agriculture Secretary Michael Scuse, a friend who once served as her chief of staff.